Speaker List

At the age of 10, Gabriel Bol Deng was separated from his family and became a refugee; after twenty years of separation he returned to his home village in Sudan and founded 'H.O.P.E. for Sudan', a non-profit supporting education in his home village. An inspiring story about the power of hope.

From the Internet to the iPod, technologies are transforming our society and empowering us as citizens, creators, and consumers. But new media technologies and their legal implications are turning everyday acts into prosecutable offences. In the name of fighting "pirates," the music and entertainment industry are pushing to extend copyright law and limit everyone's fair use rights. Where will it stop? Will everyone eventually be a copyright criminal?

Laura "Piece" Kelley was crowned Seattle Grand Slam Champion for 2004-2005, and featured on HBO's Def Poetry Jam. She is the Executive Director of the 'Think Big Foundation'. In 'Political Poetry: Art as Activism In Urban Culture', she traces the revolutionary roots of hip hop culture and its elements, including rap, dance, graffiti and visual arts.

Does art merely reflect a deeply damaged world, or can it inspire change? Jen Marlowe, director, author, and human rights activist, explores this question with audiences or classes made up of playwrights, filmmakers, visual artists, activists, students and others.

As medical technology becomes more advanced, it's falling into the hands of body hackers, people who enhance and change their bodies instead of just curing disease. Meanwhile, in traditional medicine, patients are encouraged to be active and informed, educating themselves about the latest medical research and taking control of their treatment. Where should we draw the line?

Phil Plait talks about Bad Astronomy with a humorous look at popular science myths and misconceptions.

Rebuilding Hope chronicles the homecoming to South Sudan of Gabriel Bol Deng, Garang Mayuol and Koor Garang, and their efforts to develop healthcare, clean water and education in their villages. All three were forced to flee their homes twenty years ago as young children, when militiamen led violent attacks on their villages. They crossed South Sudan on foot, surviving disease and paralyzing hunger to reach safety in a refugee camp in Ethiopia and then Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, before coming to the US in 2001. In 2007, accompanied by filmmaker Jen Marlowe and journalist David Morse, Gabriel Bol, Koor and Garang returned to Sudan to seek their families and help their communities.

Socheata Poeuv is the founder of Khmer Legacies, which has the goal of recording 10,000 testimonies of survivors of the Cambodian genocide by encouraging children to interview their parents. Her award-winning documentary New Year Baby documents her family's story of survival and healing.

At the age of 19, Lynn moved from small-town Pennsylvania to New York City to pursue a career in theatre. She was exposed to new people, new challenges, and a completely new way of life; a way of life that included drugs.

While flying home for leave after ten straight months of duty as a Muslim Chaplain for the U.S. Army at Guantanamo Bay, James Yee was arrested without being charged, and was imprisoned in solitary confinement in conditions that eerily resembled those of the prisoners at Guantanamo. For seventy-six days he was persecuted by a parade of accusations and innuendo. None of it was ever substantiated. All the charges against him were eventually dropped, but only after his military career was ruined and his personal life left in shreds.